Chapter 1

Time: 13:00 - 1:00pm, 7th March 2015

Location: Private Conference Room, S.H.I.E.L.D HQ

Perspective: Bucky 

Crisp white walls line the floor to ceiling windows of S.H.I.E.L.D.S Headquarters, below them the calm waves of the river flowed, unnoticeable by passerbyers-

“Hey Buck? You good?” steve said, stepping beside him, the fuzzy smell of coffee wafted from Steve's Captain America mug, a silly present from Tony,

“Terminator, Cap, sit back down you're ruining the view” Tony called down as he lounged on one of the spinny chairs, his feet up on the marble accented conference desk

“Stark get your feet off my desk before I bill you for the mud marks” A deep voice entered the room followed by the subtle scent of leather. Fury.

Bucky sat down on a leather chair, Steve sitting beside him, the faint thud of the coffee mug ringing in the air slightly. The air mixed with coffee also smelled like lemons and vanilla, Bucky couldn't quite place it, the chair felt too stiff, the desk too casual, his metal hand flexed quietly, the metal motion grounding him through Fury’s dull speech.

“-and the Reason why ive called you all for this meeting is confidential and important so listen close” Fury spoke,

“Let me guess, another alien invasion, or ooh maybe a new supersoldier” spoke Tony, his sarcastic wit shining through his personality as he gestured to him on the super soldier part.

“Stark i need you to focus” said Fury, his tone serious and formal as always,

“You can always send the child out if anything” said Natasha, with a smirk, her green eyes sharp yet soft. 

“What did i do!?” spoke Peter as he looked up from his phone,

“Nothing kid, the Widows talking about me” said Tony clearly annoyed

The soft hum of the AC drifted through the room like a lullaby, it drowned Buckys thoughts and he didnt like that.

“Can we turn off the AC” he asked, his metal arm whirring slightly as he crossed his arms,

“Why Barnes getting a bit too cozy for your liking?” said Tony opposite him with a smirk-

“Focus for God's sake and stop acting like children, especially you Stark!” outburst fury, clearly fed up.

“And Barnes there's the remote turn it off yourself” he said gesturing to the control on the table in font of him. Bucky grabbed it and switched the AC of, the soft lullaby finishing on a soft whirr before going silent.

“So whats the confidential thing?” asked Sam 

“Its something SHIELD has been hiding from you until now” continued Fury

“You hide a lot of stuff Director you're gonna have to be more specific” spoke Clint from the end of the table with a smirk as he tinkered on a arrow.

Fury shot him a glare before continuing “As i was saying, SHIELD has bene hiding something or someone should i say”

“Hold up fury, what do you mean someone?” said Steve to Bucky's left, now sitting up more straight, his blue eyes narrowed slightly in focus, mirroring Natashas focused gaze.

Fury tapped something on his tablet before the holographic screen on top of the table came to life, blurring slightly as Fury entered his override code before clearing, it was a file and not just anyones, it was a ghosts file.

Time: 13:30 - 1:30 PM

Perspective: Bucky 

“Whose that?” asked Clint, breaking the silence that followed the unveiling, redacted lines of text stared back at Bucky, dates and timestamps swirling his head as he tried to make sense of the numbers that danced on the holographic screen.

“No way” Natasha said, her face pale and chalky, her breathing light, it was clear she recognised the file but how? There was no picture, half of the text was redacted and the only real information there was a name: Mimic - but even that didn't give Bucky a clue.

“Nat?” asked Steve, worry clouding his face as he looked across the table to Natasha, 

“She's a ghost- How? She- She's supposed to be dead” stuttered Natasha, cleary shaken by the file on display.

“For starters she's not dead, a ghost? Possibly, most probably a ghost in the intelligence community, real life? No” said Fury,

“Hold up, who is that for starters?” asked Tony, his interest piqued now as he scanned the file, FRIDAY probably analysing and bypassing the redacted areas behind his glasses.

“That Avengers is Mimic, the worlds most deadliest assassin, she can infiltrate governments at nights, take them down, bribe them and much more, shes the worlds most deadliest chess piece in power, status and knowledge” said Fury,

“Wait, what about Bucky? Isn't he the ‘world's most dangerous assassin” asked Sam now clearly confused,

Fury merely chuckles, the whole room didn't even dare to breath, waiting,

“Mimic, makes the Winter Soldier look like Child's play, sorry Barnes” said Fury sternly, his eye tracking every one of our reactions.

That was a punch to the gut, Bucky felt his throat close up, choking him, but he swallowed it down for now. 

“Buck, you ok?” asked Steve, his brows furrowed in worry

“Yeah fine” Bucky muttered before clearing his throat.

“Well I for one want to know who this Mimic is” said Loki, the god sitting near the end , opposite of his brother Thor, Loki’s green eyes were darkened, calculating, calculating what though? No one knows. Bucky grit his teeth slightly, he despised how unpredictable Loki was, it irked him more than he cared to admit.

“Mimic is the past, present and legacy of HYDRA, and you'll meet her if you choose to follow me” said Fury as he walked past our table and to the elevator doors. The room exchanged an uneasy glance before chairs were scraped and feet shuffled into the gold marble and glass decorated and plagued elevator of SHIELD.

That was it then, Bucky thought, now it was time to meet the Mimic.

Time: 13:40 - 1:40 PM

Perspective: Bucky 

The elevator ride was tense, the air filled with tiny electric sparks that could light a wildfire if they chose to. Everyone's posture was tense, even Natashas and she normally remained calm during things like this.

“A word of warning, Mimic is not who you think she would be so don't even try to brace yourselves for what you'll see” said Fury cryptically.

“Yeah cause nothing screams dangerous killer like a mutant or something” muttered Tony.

“You ready?” asked Steve as the elevator doors dingged open to reveal the restricted Sub-level. 

Sterile clean air hit them straight away, as they all filed out Bucky stuck near Steve, all of his senses on fight or flight. Multiple SHIELD scientists walked around or chatted calmly at their workstations, vials of a dark black  liquid were stored in a glass cooler along with bags of it, Bucky's stomach did a flip and he wanted to throw up as he thought recognised the bags - They strangely resembled...blood bags? Synthesising equipment was in use, synthesizing an opaque liquid, it was a full on operation and Bukcy wanted to throw up. 

“Damn Fury, what's this for, the next pandemic?” joked Tony as he gestured to the vials and IV’s.

“Yeah, Mr Fury is Mimic a disease?” asked Peter innocently not realising Tony was being sarcastic again.

“No, she's more than that follow me” he said as he continued to walk,

“It's like a hospital” whispered Wanda, her Sokovian accent making her sound more vulnerable than intended.

“Indeed, it's very clean, too clean for a normal habitant or threat” said Vision as he floated next to her.

They all continued to walk through the massive lab-like sub-level until they got to an arched glass doorway which Fury overidded with his director's code, and they quickly came to see Maria and Pepper chatting while comparing some sort of data.

“Director, Avengers, we didn't think you’d be down here so soon-” started Maria,

But Bucky didn't care, he cared about the leather notebook that so eerily resembled his he nearly go a heart attack when he first glanced at the metal desk, it was identical but so different, whereas his notebook from Hydra was a burgundy leather and a black soviet star this one had the colours inverted, black leather and a burgundy soviet star, and in the middle unlike his who was plain apart from the star, the words: PROPERTY OF J.SCHMIDT - were stamped in the same burgundy red leather along with MIMIC - 0 , underneath it.

“The hell is this?’ asked Bucky picking it up and showing Steve who had the same confused look painted on his face,

“Your not supposed to touch that” said Pepper, gently snatching it from him and putting it back on the metal table,

“Hey-” Bucky started but Steve shot him a look so he stopped,

“As i was saying, we didn't expect you so quickly” said Maria shooting Bucky a glare before turning her full attention to Fury and the rest of the team, Yelena and Nat exchanged glances, Loki was nowhere to be seen, Thor was casually swinging Mjolnir around, Peter was on his phone while Tony was tapping at his FRIDAY encrypted glasses, Bruce was scribbling down notes of some kind as if this was a test, and Wanda and Vision were looking around taking the sterile environment in. 

“Follow me Director, Avengers” said Maria spinning on her heel before walking while gesturing to follow her, Bucky exchanged a glance with Steve, minds still reeling from the notebook that was so eerily like his.

As they followed Maria further through the sterile sub-level lab they entered through another glass encrypted door which Maria just swiped her keycard and they opened with a soft hum. 

They walked through and were met with a glass cage, iv’s falling down under the floor and back up to where more scientists were working with blood samples and data and that opaque liquid, 

And there she was in her glory, like a zoo animal on exhibit, an exhibit in a museum locked from the world in a glass cage. The Mimic.

Time: 14:00 - 2:00 PM

Perspective: Bucky 

Long silk black dutch braids neatly braided in 2 plaits that hung from the mimic , circling on the floor, 2 onyx black eyes stared blankly at them, mouth pursed shut, a black military like bomber jacket a living ‘artifact’ fro the 1940’s hung on her frame, clearly meant to suit someone older and larger than the girl they stared at, dry mud stained leather combat boots peaked out from underneath the black military like cargo trousers, and a black long sleeve t-shirt hid underneath the oversized jacket. But it was the embroidery on the left breast of the jacket that caught bucky's attention: Crimson blood like silk embroidered and spun the name J.SCHMIDT, like a name badge, her sleeves were rolled up exposing dozens if not hundreds of tiny deep scars, syringe wounds and iv scars made up most of them, they mimicked Bucky's but where Bucky had only a few it was a small amount compared to the dozens that painted the child-like-figures arms. 

“What the hell” Sam spoke first breaking the silence once again,

“Fury i appreciate humour but your not telling me that the kid is the Mimic?” said Tony clearly in shock

“You are all looking at the Mimic or most known in HYDRA when not in the field : Zero.” spoke Fury, his expression grim yet stern,

“Fury this isn't ethical-” started Bruce,

“Don't you talk to me about Ethics Banner” Fury cut him off,

“Your looking at HYDRAS legacy, their first experiment, the original from 1934, the project that started it all” Fury continued,

Fury’s words soon became a muffle, a distant ringing in Buckys ears as he focused on the girl, looking no older than 10 or 11 but her eyes showed years of firsthand experience, fuck those eyes, they stared at him as if they knew him, as if he committed something so atrocious that if looks could kill Bucky would be dead.

“Hey Barnes you sure you didn't murder her cat or something” says Tony lightheartedly breaking the awkward suspense that had built,

“Tony cut it out” steve started,

“Damn Stark i don’t know” Bucky said sighing, flexing his metal arm unconsciously,

“Gentleman” spoke Maria giving them a harsh look before going over to a holographic screen and linking it to her tablet, files started to pop up on the holographic screen showcasing mission reports, journal entries and Data logs, they were hers.

“This is what we've managed to decipher from her Journal so far compiled with data we've managed to gack from HYDRA and the Red Room” continued Maria, giving Fury a glance as if asking for confirmation to which he merely nodded faintly.

The group gathered round the table, each analysing and exploring the lines of text with their eyes.

“So what exactly does all this mean?” asked Thor,

“From what we've deciphered, you're looking at Data logs, mission reports, personal notes” replied Pepper who was now standing next to Tony whose nose was scrunched slightly and eyebrows furrowed as he made out the data, processing it in his own way.

But Bucky didn't care about the data, he cared about her. There she was, Mimic or Zero as the files said - staring at him, unblinking and cold like he was a target, like he was prey.